War Strategies
by LolaAtkinburg
Summary: Suna is at war with Konoha. At this time or hate and revenge, the two most unlikely people fell in love. ShikaTema.
1. Red Alert

A/N: I swore to myself that I would make my chapters shorter. So here is my second fic, enjoy.

Disclaimer: The usuals.

*****

In a period of chaos and hardship,

In a world different from ours,

At a time where everything and anything made love some fictional character,

Two people did the impossible.

*****

"SECURE ALL THE ENTRANCES AND EXITS," Gaara shouted, "NOTHING SHALL ENTER NOR EXIT!"

Quickly he shifted his attention to the next thing that was bothering him, "what Kankuro?" He snapped.

Kankuro shifted uneasily at the thought of being shout at by a boy younger than him.

"What Kankuro?" Gaara repeated.

"Sorry," Kankuro straightened himself, "I have information from the spies we've sent to infiltrate Konoha. They're currently figuring out Konoha's battle plans and strategies."

Gaara nodded, "and the strength?"

Kankuro looked down, "we've lost eight men."

He braced himself for another screaming from Gaara, but Gaara held it in, he had no energy to get overly pissed off at his men's weakness, "fine," he said turning away, "Konoha shouldn't be doing too good."

"Yes, they shouldn't," Kankuro reprised, "they can't, their best strategist is securely locked up in our high security dungeons."

Gaara started pacing away leaving Kankuro standing there.

"Temari," Kankuro said loud enough to catch Gaara's attention.

Gaara spun around in a split second, "what? What about Temari?"

Kankuro thought twice about what he was about to do, "Temari's going to KILL me," he thought.

"Kazekage!" One of the Sand Shinobis shouted, "we need to report a distress call from one of our posts."

Gaara held up his hand to stop the Shinobi, he walked towards Kankuro, "where's Temari?"

Kankuro deeply regretted his actions now.

Gaara had instructed that Temari was not to leave the holding facility to ensure her full protection. He knew that if he died, she would be the immediate Kazekage of Suna. That's why he wanted her to be protected, he needed someone he trusted to look after Suna once he was gone. Now that he had guessed what Kankuro had for him, he needed to commence immediate action to ensure she returns back to the holding facility safe and sound, as a whole.

"Where did she go?" Gaara asked.

Kankuro refused to answer.

"WHERE DID SHE GO?" Gaara raised his voice, causing heaps of sand around him and Kankuro to rise and swirl around the two of them.

"She said something about following Baki," he squeaked, "please don't kill me."

Gaara sighed. That was why he choose not to focus his energy and time on Kankuro, even though he was his brother. Kankuro was weak, physically and mentally, he acts all brave and large when they talked about enemies, but when he actually faces them, that's a whole other story. Kankuro just isn't suited to be the Kazekage. That's why Temari had to be kept safe.

*****

She was following Baki, so no one would think that she had escaped from the holding facility. Baki allowed her to follow only because his shift today was that the prison and Suna's prison security had been raised to the maximum, surely Temari can't be in danger.

"Stay close," Baki muttered as they entered the vicinity, "it's for your own safety."

She wanted to protest, she wanted to say that she was strong enough to take care of herself. But she knew he'd understand, he just wanted to take a precaution. She had been single- handed taking care of Gaara and Kankuro since Sound had killed off their parents, now that Suna and Konoha's ties aren't any better, she thought it was her duty to at least help her brothers out.

"We don't even know anyone there," she thought as the passed prison administration, "why the hell did they decide to initiate war between us?"

Baki led her to a room with televisions depicting what the surveillance cameras caught, "stay here."

She got what he meant by the 'special job' he was going to assign her, he wanted her to watch out for any breaking in and any breaking outs. Damn it, she should have known Baki wasn't going to let her do something that required combat, much less walking.

"Sit here and watch the surveillance," Baki ordered, "like it or not, this is the furthest you're going out of the holding facility."

"Wait," she argued, "can't you let someone else do this? Well someone like Matsuri?"

Baki gasped, "Temari," he said in a serious tone, "it's risky enough sneaking you out of the facility, now you want me to bring Matsuri out too? Gaara would be furious, be would explode, he would kill me!"

"He won't," Temari interrupted, "I'm the one who wanted to come out."

"Then he'll torture you! Reprimand you! Whatever shit he does to make you shudder under his superiority!"

"Don't forget, I'm his older sister."

"I'm his Sen- sei."

"Used to be."

"Temari," Baki warned, "whatever it is, Gaara is the Kazekage, so stop hoping and wishing that I can give you something much more to your liking to do."

She had lost it. Her power, her command over people, even her brother, who is three years younger was controlling her every move. When did all this happen? Why wasn't she granted rights t her own freedom?

It was as if Baki read her like an open book.

"Gaara is doing this mainly because he loves you and Suna," Baki said in a sympathetic tone, "because he may not survive this war and if he doesn't, he's leaving Suna in your hands."

When that he shut the door of the room. Temari heard the jingle of the keys as he locked it, sealing her shut in this room.

"If I had my fan with me, I would be able to bust myself out of this joint," she said to herself, "Gaara kept my fan in the weaponry storage, which is where?"

She scanned the room for a map of Suna, when she found one in the drawer, she unrolled it and examined the different shapes that decorated the page. There were labels to tell you what is where and scales to help you gauge distance.

"Whoever made this floorplan was stupid," Temari scoffed, "place the armory in the same building as the prisoners, you got to be kidding."

She paused and thought to herself, "but then again, thank god for stupidity!"

Temari glanced towards the door, "now how do I get out?"

*****

As a Sand shinobi restlessly walks down the empty corridor, he sighs at his fate, "of all things, Baki had to make me check up on the Princess of Suna, what a useless job."

"_HELP ME! HELP ME!_" Came a voice not too far away, "_HELP!_"

He inched closer to the room Baki told him Temari would be at.

"_HELP ME! IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE?_"

He could make out the voice, it was Temari! She needed help, but she was so strong, why'd she ever need help?

*****

She could sense someone was out there, just in front of the door.

"Damn," she wondered, "why isn't this bastard responding?" She paused for awhile before returning to her act.

*****

"_HELP ME!_" The cries resumed again, "_HELP!_"

The shinobi fiddled with the locks and keys, helplessly trying to find the right key among the huge bundle Baki gave him. Key by key he fitted into the lock, hoping with every key that the right one was next.

Finally after 6 tries, a key fitted into the lock and twisted perfectly. Without a moment of hesitation, he flung open the door, expecting danger and havoc and pain.

Oh yeah he did get pain, he was greeted with a hefty punch on the face.

It threw him backwards and knocked him against the wall. He slid down the wall as if all his bones had been crushed and laid there lifelessly.

Temari stepped out of the surveillance room and dusted her hands, "remember amateur, Sabaku No Temari never, never calls for help."

Carefully she stepped over his limps which were carelessly spread across the corridor, took the bunble of keys and walked off.

*****

"BAKI!" Gaara emerged from the doors, "WHERE'S TEMARI?"

Baki gulped, he was so dead.

He led Gaara down the empty hallway to the surveillance room, upon reaching he found the Shinobi he had sent lying opposite an open door. And in the room the open door lead to, contained no possible soul they were looking for. Temari wasn't there.

"DAMN IT!" Baki cried as he went in, he noticed the map that laid on the table.

Gaara was just behind him and he ignored the map unlike Baki, instead he watched the televisions which portrayed black and white images the surveillance cameras caught. He carefully searched for Temari, hopefully she was wandering around these aeas. He scanned through the aisle of prison cells and security guards walking by, no Temari. Then something else caught his eye.

"RED ALERT! RED ALERT!" He shouted through the mic, "A PRISONER IN THE HIGH SECURITY WING HAS ESCAPED! RED ALERT, DISPATCH ALL PERSONNELS! FIND THIS CULPRIT! I REPEAT…"

*****

"… RED ALERT! RED ALERT!" Gaara's voice boomed from the PA system.

Temari briskly grabbed her iron fan from the glass display and ran out of the armory, she headed out of the building. If Gaara found out she was here, which he might have, she would be in trouble, no matter how much she denied that fact, it was inevitable. It was time to realize that Sabaku No Gaara was in charge now.

It was chaotic outside, everyone is busy searching for the escapee, shinobis flying around in all direction, members of Gaara's secret police have also been dispatched, there was no way she could get back to the holding facility safely.

So she ran towards the most empty area- the alley. She knew where it lead to, the map told her everything. She was headed towards the back of the prison house and the border of Sunagakure.

Although it wasn't going to lead her to the holding facility, at least she could stay there until the chaos died down.

She was wrong.

What she didn't know was that she was heading towards an imminent danger.

*****

A/N: Short chapter indeed. Background info on the whole setting if anyone didn't get it. This story is about war between Suna and Konoha, because if what? I'll say in the later chapters. The people over in Konoha like Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Hinata... blah blah blah, they all don't know Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Baki and Suna people. So in short, no one knows anyone. Get it? Yes, Shikamaru has never met Temari in my story until in the next chapter. I like my cheesey opening, please do not flame or anything because of it. Thank you.

Review if you're a ShikaTema fan!


	2. Frienemy

A/N: I'm back!

Disclaimer: You know it.

*****

He knew that if he wasn't fast enough someone might find him and most probably kill him. Now that the whole of Suna was frantically looking for him, he knew more than clearly that the odds were against him.

Blood that flowed from his calve was the result of a Sand shinobi, a shuriken and a few sleepless nights. Thank god that the blades of the shuriken didn't get too close to his bone, or else returning to Konoha would be too troublesome to carry out.

"_Shhhh, shhhh…"_

He looked up from his wound, he heard it, the shuffling of feet,

close by. As if someone was running.

It was closing up on him.

There was only one person, he could handle it, not unless it was some high ranking shinobi, then he would be considered dead.

*****

Someone was there, she could smell it; a light scent of blood floating in the wind. She slowed down her pace, careful not to let the person hear her. But the person won't be able to see her among all these darkness. She'll just appear like a moving shadow.

"Shadows?" She thought and looked up into the blazing Suna sky, "it's mid day, the sun's directly above… there can't possibly be any shadows…unless…"

Frantically, she looked around for any one who might be using genjutsu on her.

"Kai!" She tried to break the genjutsu, if there was any in the first place.

She wasn't under genjutsu. Then what was it?

She thought about the possibilities, words ran through her mind, "darkness… position of the sun… shadows…SHADOWS!"

-FLASHBACK-

"Konoha's helpless now," Gaara told Temari over dinner.

"How come?"

"We caught the mastermind behind all Konoha's strategies, plans and battle formation," Gaara smirked, "it was hard, but he managed to outdo his shadow technique."

-END OF FLASHBACK-

The shadow technique, a technique passed down from generations in the Nara clan. This technique catches the opponent by their shadow and prevents the opponent from moving at their own free will. The opponent will have to follow whatever the user does until his chakra runs out.

"I can't be caught by the shadow," she looked around for any moving shadows, "it's so dark I can hardly see."

She decided to run out of the alley, towards the border of Suna, darkness was her weakness and she had to get away from it.

*****

"Just as plan," Shikamaru thought, "I lured the person here."

He squatted just next to the opening of the alley and stretched out a thin line of shadow on the ground. When the opponent comes running out and steps onto the shadow, the person would be binded by it.

*****

She sniffed the air the wind carried her, something was different, the smell of the blood was coming from a different location, only a few feet away from her. That is, just at the entrance of the alley.

"There's a trap," she thought to herself, "lure me out of the alley, straight into a trap. Shadow doppelgander!"

Temari allowed the shadow clone to go ahead of her and fall into the trap. She only followed shortly behind, prepared to catch the opponent by surprise.

"Baka," she silently cursed the attacker, before watching her shadow clone run onto the trap and stop moving, she was caught by the shadow binding technique, "excellent."

Temari ran towards the clone, and once she was out of the alley, she saw her opponent- a Leaf Nin.

He quickly caught on to her plan and backed away quickly before she could do anything to him.

Soon they were face to face, each prepared to attack when the other one does.

"You're the Shinobi everyone in my village is looking for," Temari said, she had to keep her composure although her plan had failed, "they'll find you soon enough."

He knew she was right, as much as he wanted her to be wrong, she was undoubtly right, they'll find him soon. But when they do, he'll be gone.

"I'm not going to lose to some injured leaf nin," Temari said.

He smirked, "let's get this done and over with," he launched his second shadow to her, "this is so troublesome."

She dodged the kept dodging the shadow, until it had reached it length limit, she stopped and used her fan to draw a line across the soft yellow sand.

She pulled her fan back and sent a strong gust of wind for his direction, he managed to dodge it and attacked back, this time, Temari kept behind the line she drew cause she knew the shadow could only go so far.

She was wrong.

It stretch further, further behind the line. It almost touched her, she was almost caught by, however she jumped back.

"He's smart," she thought, once he retracted his shadow, she drew another line.

She heard the rustle of leaves coming from outside the border, the wind was cutting in her direction. Someone had launched a shuriken in her direction.

She barely dodged it, it missed her arm by a few millimeters. Temari looked back at the Leaf Nin. He looking at the direction the shuriken came frm, he couldn't have launched a shuriken. Unless…

She launched her own shuriken towards him and he dodged it.

"I'm not a shadow clone," he said, "someone from another village is here."

He was right. If it was someone from Shikamaru's village the person would have came out and helped him. But if it was someone from Temari's village, then that person would have came out and helped her. So that means it would be someone from another village, not from the Leaf nor the Sand.

A kunai came towards Shikamaru, it barely missed his feet.

They looked at each other. Former allies that turned against each other all because of a certain incident that occurred a few months ago.

They we're allies anyone,

they were enemies.

And her father had always thought her,

Enemies have to kill their enemies,

In order to survive in this world.

He was distracted, she had to grab this opportunity to defeat him once and for all.

She turned towards him- or at least she tried.

She looked down. A thin black line that started from her feet ran along the sandy ground and connected to his.

"No," she couldn't believe this, "he was distracted."

Then she saw, from the corner of his eye, he looked at her and smirked.

No, she was the distracted one.

*****

He couldn't finish her off, he had to preserve his chakra, it wasn't wise of him to force her to follow him on his journey back to Konoha, but it was a better and less troublesome choice- or so he thought.

"Fucking let me go," Temari yelled, she followed his every move as they ran through the forest, "you won, now let me go."

Shikamaru stopped, "for the record, you're the most troublesome woman I have ever, ever, ever in my whole entire fucking life, seen. Congratulations! You won too!"

She frowned, "it's not that you're afraid that I might attack once you release me is it?"

"What?" he started walked.

"You need me to support you," Temari pointed to his leg, "you can't walk properly with a broken leg, so you need my leg to support your and your using you shadow technique to do so."

"In a way, yes, I am using you like that," Shikamaru said, "but I am going to bring you back to Konoha to hold you hostage too."

Temari kept quiet, at a situation like this, where she is binded by his shadow, she can only follow and talk to him. And to be honest, she wasn't a very good convincer.

"Do you think holding me hostage is really going to solve this mess?" She asked in her last efforts to be released this bind, "it's just going to make this mess, messier."

"I should ask the same question," Shikamaru said.

Temari wanted to argue back, but he was right, they got him hostage too, but what difference did it make to the situation? It only made Konoha angrier.

"Look," Shikamaru said, "I don't know how important you are to Suna and what they would do to fight for you, but I guess that there would be people who are worried for you and will come for you. These people are the ones who would learn the value of peace and try to convince your Kazekage that war wasn't totally necessary in the first place."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, "since you value peace as much as I do, why don't you let me go, so I can go back and tell the Kazekage to stop all this?"

Shikamaru sighed, "cause this might be the only way."

"The two villages can always talk this out," Temari said.

"It's not that easy," Shikamaru shot back, "what makes you think that people will take the time to listen to you at a time like this?"

"Because, I'm Kazekage's sister," Temari said, "he has to listen."

Shikamaru stopped on his tracks, "you're the Kazekage's sister?"

She suddenly felt like it was a stupid idea to tell him who she was, "yes."

He looked ahead at the wide terrain of lush forestry in front of him and wondered how long this war would last, because just by looking at the infinite stretch of trees and undergrowth made him realize that it might never end until the very last person dies. And for her, the Kazekage's sister, the chances of her brother getting killed, murdered, or assassinated were unbearably high, she would lose part of her family.

"What's your name?" He asked her.

"Sabaku No Temari," Temari said, "why?"

"So you're really the Kazekage's sister, eh," Shikamaru said softly.

"Do you really think I would lie?" Temari asked.

"Cause you're the enemy," Shikamaru said.

"_Enemies have to kill their enemies_," the former Kazekage's voice rang in her head, "_in order to survive in this world_."

"Well he was wrong," Temari thought, "I'm not dead yet."

"A very good friend's death has taught me how someone with loss would feel," Shikamaru's said, "all I know that it is an ugly feeling and I don't want to experience it again. And somehow, I don't want you to experience it at all," he release his shadow bind, "you can go troublesome woman, I'll help you and you'll help me. And someday, when the war is over, we may meet again."

She gazed at his injured calve, "what about your injury?"

"I'll pull through," Shikamaru said, "good thing I released the bind early, my chakra level is deadly low already. But the journey back would be troublesome."

*****

She was going to go back and tell Gaara to stop the whole war, she had to, promised that guy and she never breaks a promise. Gaara would have to listen to her one way or another, she was older than him, it was only right.

"Nara Shikamaru," she muttered to herself, "maybe people from the Leaf Village isn't so bad after all."

She dodged an on coming shuriken that nearly hit her.

Temari looked around to see who it was. The shuriken that was struck into the tree had a note addressed to her.

She tore it off and read it through.

_Nara Shikamaru is in danger. _

Why should she care?

She tossed the slip of paper away.

He is a friend, though not a very good one. He is from the Leaf, her so- called enemy. So in a way he's a frienemy. He had been nice enough not to make her hostage, maybe a bit too nice to someone from the opposing village. He is a guy, but her hormones weren't begging for him, at least not _that_ badly.

"_A very good friend's death has taught me how someone with loss would feel," Shikamaru's voice echoed in her head, "all I know that it is an ugly feeling and I don't want to experience it again. And somehow, I don't want you to experience it at all."_

And dear god, he was sweet.

This gives her more reason to not go and help him.

"I mean," Temari thought on the spot, "I should only be liking him platonically, god, I just freaking met him. I can't possibly like him un- platonically, that would be mad, that would be heinous, that would be devastating!"

She moaned at how horribly weak she was acting, "damn it, why did he have to be so sweet? I hate him. I'll just let him die and see if that 'ugly feeling' really do exists."

She continued going in the direction back to Suna, but only after a few steps, she decided to switch her direction and save a frienemy.

*****

A/N: In my opinion, a horrid chapter. Kill me god.

Next Chapter:

Temari saves Shikamaru from Tayuya, one of the Sound Ninja Five. But wait, what has the Sound Ninjas got to do with the war they're in right now?

Review to find out!


	3. A boy and a girl

A/N: This is feeling like a part time job I've totally screwed up. But unless you're fired you have to continue doing it. Not that I don't enjoy the process, my juice flow isn't circulating well.

Disclaimer: NARUTO not mine. I wouldn't be doing this if it were and if it were mine, I'd MAKE SHIKAMARU TOTALLY SCREW TEMARI DAMN WELL.

*****

His shadow binding technique had failed on her, she managed to break lose. Now she was hiding from him, waiting for him to be deadly weak then she attacks.

"Fucking coward," he muttered, "afraid to face up to an injured Shinobi."

He winced at the pain that shoot up from his calve, the infection was spreading, if he didn't cure it soon he might has to amputate his leg. He felt the sunken joint in his thumb, the tiny bone fragments grinding against each other with the pull of each muscle.

He had initially broke his thumb to release himself from a genjutsu this fuchsia colored hair girl put him under. She claimed to be Tayuya, one of the Sound Five, Orochimaru's people. That faggot couldn't do thing by himself, he had to send his little itsy bitsy experiments to come do his dirty work and clear his crowded path to Konoha. At a time like this, where both Suna and Konoha are at war with each other, an attack from Orochimaru was the last thing they needed.

There was a flash of flaring red hair in between trees, he cautiously shifted his positioned on the large tree branch to increase his evasiveness. She was close by and he could sense it.

"She isn't good at close combat, that's why she goes for long distance attacks," he processed, "it wouldn't be wise of her to come charging towards me thinking I wouldn't see it coming, she would rather wait for me to attack and follow up on the move with a quick combat and attack back with a genjutsu from where she is."

He slid his hand into his Shuriken Holster and withdrew a handful of Shurikens. He spread them in his palm into a lotus shape and sensed her presence.

"She isn't very far," Shikamaru thought, "a shot to the left and she would dodge to the right and get hit by the Shuriken a sent flying in that direction 0.1 seconds after the launch of the first one."

He did it, sent the two shurikens flying in between the trees one 0.1 seconds after the other. Sure enough he heard a cry of pain, it was a direct hit. He tried to reach of a couple more, but a sharp pain shoot up to his thigh and his knee gave way causing him to land on his knees on the branch.

At that point,

he was inevitably,

vulnerable.

Too vulnerable.

He looked up, she was suddenly in front of him, glaring down at him with bloodstains on her white shirt. She was snickering, like a witch.

"You dirtied my outfit," she said, with a harsh voice, "you know it's hard to get bloodstains of a piece of fabric, I've tried, but human blood just can't be washed away. I guess that's a form of reminding you of your sins, how many people you've killed. Very tormenting indeed, but at the same time it inexplicably is soothing to the soul, knowing how many less people are there in the world that can harm you."

He glanced at the flute she held on her left hand, "what do you want bitch?"

She grinned, "lesser people that can harm me."

"I don't think there will be anyone to harm you in hell," Shikamaru muttered.

She came closer to him, "I'm not going to be the one going to hell."

He was aware of the fact that death was imminent unless an angel fell from the sky and rescued him- highly impossible, seeing the fact that there aren't any angels around to begin with, the only angel he had seen has gone back home, gone back to heaven.

Yes, angels did have blond hair and blue eyes, dirty blond hair and teal blue eyes to be exact. They said angels were pretty, well they were lying, they had been spitting out rubbish, for the angel he had seen proved them wrong. She would make them cry in shame if even they said angels were pretty, cause they're not.

No, how can she be pretty.

In all the horrible ways, she was tough, strong and bold. She spoke her mind and she wasn't afraid of possibilities. She valued peace and spoke in a situation where everyone would emerge as winners in their own right. So if every angel were like that.

Pretty would be a sheer understatement.

She was beautiful.

Both inside and out.

He knew he was going to think about her every single fucking day of his life and that was not ok, not good at all.

Not only was she the 'enemy', thinking about things, dreaming about corrupt thoughts, was, simply violating the laws of being a ninja. Having emotions, dreams, thoughts and not to mention hormones devour your every senses was troublesome and uncalled for.

But he didn't blame her, he blames himself for being like this, for liking an angel, for wishing to see her more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more until he can have no more.

This was sick.

He blames his hormones and his stupid fucking retarded dick.

"Send me a postcard from hell," Tayuya said, "shadow nin."

She took out a kunai, prepared to stab him in all sorts of places that would kill him and knock him out.

He sat there crouching, pending his doom and wishing for a miracle to come by, cause honestly not matter how troublesome life seemed, there was always a reason for him to go by each day.

And so he waited there, imagining the piercing pain of the kunai and the rusted feeling of metal in his blood, he thought of where she would tackle first and hope deep it would be, cause honestly saving yourself is much more troublesome than ending yourself and he knew he wasn't sane anymore.

He was contradicting himself.

He wished to go to heaven at least sane.

But it didn't come, all he felt was a strong gust of wind and the branch he was sitting on wobble.

"Haha," he laughed in his head, "had that idiot fell off the branch cause a little tiny wind blew her off? Pathetic."

He looked up.

So a miracle happened. God was smart enough to send the most desired angel to come for him, how perfect.

Apparently, she had blew Tayuya away with her giant, iron fan.

"Temari?" he tried to pull himself up by using the support of the tree trunk.

"Tell me her battle style," Temari ordered, "you've battled her, tell me."

He explained everything to her.

She nodded and opened her fuckingly huge fan.

"Long distance," he decided to sum it up quickly, after all, it won't be long before she uses her genjutsu on them, "attacks with her genjutsu then when her opponent is at their weakest, she attacks, we're at a disadvantage here, bec-"

"I didn't ask for your opinion," Temari bit her thumb and drew a line of blood on her fan, "if that person thinks that she's going to hide away while we wait for her to play her flute, she's just too naïve."

"What?" Shikamaru looked at her firm and steady back, there was a scary aura exerting from her, she was sure of herself.

"Kuchiyose," she swept her fan to one side, "Kirikiri Mai."

He closed his eyes, everything started flying around and falling apart, wind swept all over the place and blew stuff he never knew could be blown, away.

And when he felt that all mother nature has settled down and come to place, he opened his eyes and found nothing but clear forest land with an open road and some pretty amazing person.

"It's over," she said calmly even after mass destruction, "she's dead," she turned to face him and guess what she did.

She smiled.

A ruthless and violent smiling girl stood before him and he was thankful for that. There was probably no one else in this world he would like to see smile more than her.

Which was pretty scary, considering the fact that they had just met.

"Did you send this?" she handed him the paper slip, "I highly doubt so."

"No I didn't," he said reading it through, analyzing the handwriting, "but I've seen it before, once, quite sometime ago."

She knelt down beside him, "and who does it belong to? Someone from your village?"

He shook his head, "if it were that person would have come to save me by himself, not send you here."

"Maybe that person's is from the Sound village," Temari said, "if you look at it this way, maybe this person is trying to test our skill and ability on their own people."

"Why would they want to do that?" Shikamaru asked, "you're making this much more troublesome than it's supposed to be."

"Because our villages are at war," she said calmly, "because our villages are at war Shikamaru!"

It clicked.

"So when it is a time of total chaos and destruction," Shikamaru thought out loud, "it is an opportunity for infiltration of Konoha. They've been trying to destroy Konoha for eons already and finally, they've thought of a rational plan."

Temari gasped, "they initiated it at the perfect time."

"No," Shikamaru disagreed, "the reason why the war even started was because of the conflict that aroused between our two villages. Your village said that one of the shinobis from our village killed one of you shinobi because there was a leaf village forehead protector left at the crime scene."

"And a few days after your village came to us saying we killed one of your shinobis because of a Sand village forehead protector left," Temari dwelled on the thought, "this made your village think we did it out of revenge and the war started."

They both jumped down from the tree and start picking pace on the ground.

"But look at it this way," Shikamaru suggested, "who in the fuckingly right mind would blatantly leave their forehead protector at the scene of the crime."

"It was a set up," Temari said, "to get our two villages to go into war."

Shikamaru dropped into the ground, "damn it," he inspected his leg, "the infection is spreading, if we don't treat it there is a possibility that I have to amputate it."

"What?" Temari knelt down and examine his leg, "that means you can no longer be a ninja, all your years of hardwork would be put to waste."

He sighed, "this is troublesome."

"Get up," she commanded, "get up you lazy piece of shit."

"Why?" Shikamaru didn't feel like moving, he wasn't in the mood, "it's such a drag."

"Nara Shikamaru, if you don't treat that fucking wound the infection may not only spread to your legs, it will spread through out your body, it would be pain and not to forget troublesome, and it will continue spreading until… until it reaches your heart," she tried to hold back the tears that might superfluously come down her cheeks if she weren't careful, "and when it reaches your heart… you… you will _die_," she said die in almost a squeak, it was a dreadful word for the victim and those around him, "and I remember that there was a young boy who once told me about an ugly feeling you would feel when you lose someone you care about, and this boy is kind and thoughtful and caring and many things people aren't, and if this boy doesn't have the will to save himself," she paused, she knew she mustn't cry, she wouldn't, she couldn't, "I would felt the ugly feeling and I don't want to feel that ugly feeling and I know he doesn't want me to feel that feeling too, because he told me, he told me he didn't want me to feel it, because it was horrible."

"Temari…"

"And," she interrupted him, "and now, he has gone back at his word and decided, 'hey why not let her feel this horrible ugly feeling, yeah, lets teach this self- centered, pathetic, arrogant, ugly bitch what it is like to feel the hurt, and then she won't be so greedy'," she paused and wiped off the salt water collecting in her eyes, "yes, I have learnt my lesson, yes, I have regretted leaving the holding facility just to get things going my own way, I have regretted defying Baki's orders, and I'm sorry. But there is nothing I can do about it now, expect move on. That's what you have to do Nara Shikamaru, you have to move on."

There was a sheer, awkward silence before he got up and steadied himself.

"You are very troublesome, you know," he started walking, leaving her behind, "and the boy has moved on, what about the girl?"

*****

A/N: don't mean to brag, but I like my last part, it was nice, in a sad way.

Next chapter:

They head back to Konoha, it was going to take them another day, but until then, what are they going to do?

Review!


	4. His Angel

A/N: Trying to wrap this story up asap.

Disclaimer: do not own naruto

*****

"Here."

"What?"

"Take it, you need it more than I do."

He reluctantly received her fan from her, "you're giving this to me?"

"No," she said, "I'm only lending it to you, I can't follow you back to Konoha knowing that I'm suppose to help you when I'm not."

He steadied the fan like a walking stick and continued walking.

By then, the infection was half way up his thigh, if he didn't get back to Konoha latest by mid- day tomorrow, he'd be lucky if it were only his legs they had to amputate.

He looked at her, walking just in front of him. She had told him that his pace was too slow for her to keep up with.

"What a funny girl," he thought to himself, "too slow to keep up with."

Occasionally, she would turn back to check up on him, their eyes would meet and she would quickly turn away.

Thank god she did, otherwise, she would have noticed him trying to calm his jumping hormones. At times like these, those jumping jelly beans hormones can really be the definition of troublesome.

He felt bad. She was following him because she had to… to… _protect_ him. As much as this chauvinistic genius hates it, she had a freaking good reason to do so. She also did it so that she can go over to Konoha to solve the problem as soon as possible and negotiate a peace treaty, something they ought to have a very long time ago.

He likes to think that she came along because she was worried about him and she cared about his safety. But angels were suppose to cared about children of god, she is suppose to care about him… and everyone else.

"Damn it," he scolded himself, "that totally ruined that whole thing."

Then he remembered that she cried for him.

"I'm confused," he wondered, "do angels cry for everyone too? They sure have a lot of tears to spare. Crying over and over again, I bet she's sick of it. I even wonder if those were genuine or crocodile tears…"

He tried visualizing her crying for him again and when he thought about it, he realize she didn't even cry.

"Her eyes were just watery," he laughed at himself, "troublesome."

She stopped and he followed.

"Are you ok?" she turned back to ask, "you've been laughing to yourself, it's kind of freaking me out."

"Nah," Shikamaru said, "I was just thinking."

"About?" She probed.

Shikamaru wandered if he should ask her, "did you cry just now? When I was about to give up entirely on my life."

She was stumped. She turned away before she turned red with embarrassment.

"I don't cry," she said as proudly as she could, "my eyes were just watery, something went in."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Why did you ask?" Temari asked, "it was a little too sudden and out of the blue, it scared me."

"Nah," he continued walking, "I was just thinking."

"Again?" she exclaimed, "you're always thinking!"

He faced her, "no human can go one second without thinking a thought, so in actual fact you are also always thinking too."

"And you say I'm troublesome," Temari said, obviously pissed, "and what was the root thought that caused you to thinking about me so- called 'crying'?"

"Angels," he said.

She caught up to him, "angels?" she scoffed, "as in you believe in angels?"

"Er yeah," he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "haven't you?"

She raised a brow, before deciding to play along, "no, unlike you, I'm so unfortunate as to not have been able to witness an angel all my lifetime. So tell me, where did you meet this angel? Oh wait- let me guess… in heaven?"

"Troublesome," he grunted, "what makes you think all angels live in heaven? I've seen that lives on this miserable world before my very eyes."

"Exactly where did you see this oh so magnificent angel, may I ask?"

"In a time of great crisis."

She dropped her hands from her hips, "then why doesn't this angel come and save us now? After all, we are in a time of great crisis."

"It's good that she isn't coming," Shikamaru said, "I'd like to think she comes only for me."

She started laughing, "oh I get it, you like this angel don't you?"

"I think I do."

Thank god there wasn't any water in her mouth at that moment, if there were, she would have spitting out.

"What?" she couldn't believe it, "I was just joking, there really is a girl?"

He looked at her from the corner of his eye, "why? You seem seemingly jealous."

She faked a laugh, "no. No way. I was just shocked, really shocked, how any girl could possibly like you."

"I don't think she likes me," he said.

She heaved a sigh of relief, "aww… don't be disheartened Shikamaru, there are many other girls out there."

"Not one quite as similar to her," he muttered, "and please stop your sarcasm, it is some how or rather apparent that someone like you wouldn't feel any… strong desire, you're too patriotic to you country and your brothers that you hardly make room for anyone else."

"Excuse me?" she said, offended, "for your information I do have strong desires for someone in particular."

"Could it be your brother?"

She ignored him, "but he so happens to like someone else already…"

He raised his free hand, "give me a high five. Apparently the only people we have strong desires for have strong desires for someone else already."

She smiled, "fuck the guy that your girl likes and fuck the girl that my guy likes, some how this world isn't fair," she gave him a high five.

"If it were," he said walking along her side, "a tiger can eat a rabbit and a rabbit can eat a tiger."

She laughed, "alright then, fuck the world."

He joined in her laughter, "fuck the world."

*****

"Here," Temari said, "lets stop here for the night."

She entered an abandon cave that they chanced upon on their way back to Konoha. He followed her in and settled down on the floor of the cave, he gently laid her fan by his side.

"Are you cold?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"Great," she smiled, "saves me the trouble of starting a fire," she took a stick and drew a vertical line between the two of them, "cross this line, I swear to god that angel of yours will literally go to heaven."

He wanted to laugh, "and she doesn't know that she is the angel, this is so funny."

"You're going to kill her?" Shikamaru asked, trying to suppress a laugh, "how are you going to do that?"

"I might want to chop off her ovaries," Temari thought out loud, "then I would shave her bald and flatten her boobs."

"I don't think you might," Shikamaru started laughing, "when you find out who she is, you might think twice."

She ignored his laughter, "I won't think twice."

"Ok then," Shikamaru clamed down a little, "what if you cross the line."

"Impossible."

"If," Shikamaru repeated, "what if."

"I'll have sex with any guy you want me to have it with," Temari said confidently, "but trust me, that wouldn't happen."

"This is going to be a fun night," Shikamaru stated.

"You bet it will, so sleep."

They both laid down on either side of the line and allowed the sleep take over their senses.

A whole day of walking has taken it's toll on them, they had fallen into deep, deep sleep only seconds after closing their eyes.

*****

There was the constant rising and sinking that bothered her. And not to mention, the persistent beating of drums.

_Thump… thump… thump… thump…_

They were in uniform time and pace, beating and beating. In some peculiar way, it was soothing and oddly familiar to her ears, especially the right ear. It was louder on the right ear than the left.

She opened her eyes, trying to verify the source of the sound.

It might be Shikamaru and his lame old self, beating the drums that appeared out of the blue, trying to annoy her awake.

Or it could be him beat boxing into her ear- highly impossible.

Or it could be his heart beat.

And that she had been lying on his chest, explaining the rising and sinking of the ground.

She opened her eyes so wide that she suspected the skin at the sides has torn open.

She was lying on him.

Freaking on him.

Like on top of him.

His body under hers.

Like sandwich.

Her scream could go two ways: one in distraught and one in euphoria.

Her head of on his chest and their legs were tangled up. On of his hands laid on the small of her back while the other, her ass.

The thought of it caused a wave of tingling sensations to spread all over her body numbing her brain.

Her hand felt the soft fabric of his shirt and the contours of his muscles underneath. She tried to suppress a blush and looked up at his sleeping face.

"He is so gorgeous," she muttered under her breath.

He laid there, skin as flushed as the morning sun and as calm as the surface of a lake. His eyes were sound and gentle like a deer and he had a perfectly inclined nose.

She observed his lips, pale and almost colorless, like how it should be. It took a good shape, not too pouty, not too thin, neither was it too long nor short, it was just nice. And even though they hadn't had a sip of water for the whole day, his lips forever looked as fresh like the dewy morning and as inviting as a box of chocolates.

It was wrong, she knew it was, but resisting temptation wasn't the best of her abilities. She did so badly want to caress those lips of his and feel the damp, cold contours against her lips. She wanted to give him a chaste kiss, stainless and pure. And as her fingers slowly crawled up his chest to face to his lips, she wandered what she could say if he wakes to find someone above him, trying hard of resisting the urge to strip him naked and initiate totally chaos between their two bodies.

Her fingers gently rubbed on his lips, feeling the cold, damp surface of his bare, naked skin and casually caressing his cheeks in a circular motion, round and round and round…

Her heart leaped, in a flash, he had grabbed her hand and stopped it's motion. His eyes flickered and finally they opened. He looked at her, lying on his chest and lifted a hand to feel her cheeks. He smiled.

"We have crossed the line," he whispered.

The line.

A line she oh so conveniently forgot about.

A line that she wouldn't have passed if not for his breathtaking face and her weak heart.

That line.

He felt his heart palpitating like there was no tomorrow, racing like it was a horse running for it's life and jumping up and down like a… a… jelly bean.

She felt his face getting warmer and warmer.

"Is he sick?" she thought to herself, "he's burning like he has a fever."

"Are you ok?" she asked, "you are so hot."

Hot?

She wanted to slap herself in her face. Warm could have sufficed, but _no_, she had to use _hot_. Now he was going to think that she was some kind of loose, wild girl that throws herself to any guy she sees.

Damn it.

She quickly got off him but he still held on to her hand, not letting go.

"Shikamaru," she said, "my hand."

He came back from his wild fantasies and released her warm hand. She got off him and he sat up.

"So I'm guessing that you're going to beat up that girl eh?" he asked as they started to pack their belongings, "do you even know who she is?"

"I doubt you'll even tell me, since she's so precious to you," she replied waiting for him, "but whatever, since I'm not beating her up, I guess the deal's off."

He looked at her standing the mouth of the cave waiting for him, the morning light out shining her. She really _was_ an angel.

"Fat hope," Shikamaru grinned, "you're still going to have sex with this guy I have in mind whether you like it or not."

"No wait," Temari argued back, "no, I won't. Gosh, how could you? I thought you were nice…"

They started walking to Konoha.

"I was just kidding," Shikamaru said, "I wouldn't want to upset you."

They still had two kilometers to cover before reaching Konoha, they were ahead of their schedule.

"Anyway," Temari asked casually, "who would you want me to have sex with?"

He gave her the expression saying "are you sure you want to know?"

"This guy," Shikamaru said.

Temari's hands drop, "of course it's a guy, I don't think you'll set me up with a girl."

He started laughing, "maybe I will. Just don't ask ok? I don't think he will ever have the privilege to explore your body."

She blushed, "privilege?"

"I was being sarcastic," Shikamaru said.

She punched his arm, "you're not very good at it."

"Troublesome."

*****

"Is that Shikamaru?" Kiba, who was standing guard during that shift, said.

Chouji, the other one standing guard squinted his eyes to look, "yes, OH HOLLY MACARONI! HEY SHIKAMARU!"

Shikamaru was at a distance.

"Who's that next to him?" Chouji asked, "she smells familiar?"

Kiba sniffed the air and growled, "damn it, she's from Suna the very hot Suna, just like her."

"What is Shikamaru doing with her?" Chouji asked, "I think he wants to bring her in as a prisoner."

Temari held Shikamaru and slowly walked up to them.

"Get him a medic," Temari said urgently, "he's in critical condition."

They looked at each other, spaced out.

"HURRY," Temari screamed at them.

*****

He could hear the sound of the heart rate monitor beeping endlessly, annoying him.

His last recalled Temari screaming at Chouji and Kiba before passing out, he still felt that grip she had on his ribs, she was holding on to him like he was her lifeline.

"Shikamaru?" he could hear Sakura's voice, he opened his eyes.

"Sakura? How am I doing?" he asked.

Sakura smiled, "Tsunade sama was able to save you in time. Thank God that girl from Suna saved you, or you would have been dead."

He grinned, "yeah, He only sends that angel for me," he sat up on the hospital bed, "where is Temari?"

"Temari?" Sakura asked, "oh that girl is called Temari?"

Shikamaru nodded, "yeah where is she?"

"She went to see Tsunade sama in her office to discuss some issues regarding a peace treaty," Sakura explained, "she's really pretty."

"And troublesome," Shikamaru added, "when will they be done?"

Sakura raised her brow, "why? You want to see her before she leaves?"

"I need to thank her," Shikamaru lied.

There was a knock on the door, "eh, it's me."

"Come in Temari," Shikamaru said, "how did the negotiation for peace go?"

"My brother is on his way," Temari said, "until then, they'll pause the war and wait till the conference is done and when the treaty is signed before completely ending it."

"Your brother?" Sakura asked.

"Her brother's the Kazekage," Shikamaru explained.

"Oh…" Sakura nodded, "he must look as ravishing as you."

Temari scoffed, "me ravishing? Ugly would be an understatement. And as for my brothers, we all look nothing a like."

Sakura laughed, "alright, alright. I'll leave the two of you here, I have some other almost dying people to attend to."

When she left Shikamaru broke out into his own laughter, "You, ravishing?"

"What is that suppose to mean?" Temari asked offended.

"SHIKAMARU!" a blond haired girl came charging in, "I MISSED YOU!"

She ran at such a high speed she almost pounced onto him.

"OH MY GOD," she screamed, "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?

"Ino," Shikamaru said after recovering from the shock, "calm down."

Temari looked at the blond haired blue eyed girl in front of her and she immediately knew who she was.

"The Angel," she thought, "how could I ever think that she would one day disappear from his life?"

She was pretty and slim and truly ravishing, it's hard to believe that she isn't the one Shikamaru has a crush on. Plus, she seemed to care a lot about her friends, like she has a wondrous personality. Pure, untainted blond, unlike her sandy, dirty blond hair, her hair looks soft to the touch, it swished in the air like those girls from the hair shampoo ads. She could very well be a model.

As much as she wanted to stay and lengthen her stay, she felt that she was pretty much unwanted in the room, like she was an intruder intruding with Shikamaru's love life.

Yes an intruder, how could she ever think she was part of it.

She didn't want to say it, but for the very first time in her life, she felt that the tears that were about to come were those that were uncontrollable, those that she can't stop from flowing out. There was a pain, a crack, a hole in her heart and tears were gushing out of it. These tears filled her body capacity till it could no longer hold it up any more and they decide to release these tears through the most convenient outlet- her teal blue eyes.

"Hey, umm…" she thought of a reason that would allow her to go out without leaving anyone in suspicion, "I need to speak to the Hokage."

She was about to leave before Shikamaru stopped her, "eh, are you _crying_?"

"No," she tried to sound confident, "something when into my eye."

She quickly left.

*****

She headed to where seemed to be the most possible location to the toilet.

She knocked into a pale, black haired boy.

"Are you ok?" he asked smiling.

She ran away from him.

*****

"Hi Shikamaru," Sai came in smiling like there was no tomorrow, "how are you and your little dick coming along?"

"Shut up Sai," Shikamaru said, "did you, by any chance, see a girl running out? Blond? Teal eyed?"

"You mean the cry girl?" he asked, "the one that was crying like how Ino did went she thought I died?"

"Err… yeah," Shikamaru said, "wait- she was crying? I thought something went into her eye?"

There was a minute of silence.

"FUCK," Shikamaru screamed as he got up from the bed and ran out of the ward before Ino or Sai could stop him.

"He'd recovered quickly," Ino said looking at Sai, "so what do we do now?"

"Anything you feel like. How about looking in each other's eyes without the pretense and talk?"

Ino made a face, "what the hell?"

"When it comes to what an adolescent boy wants to do, it's not much different from what we've been doing already. There's no point in doing that. I'll be mature and listen to anything you want to talk about."

Ino stood up and hissed into his ear, "there's a difference between doing it for someone and having it done for you."

*****

"Temari," he walked in which ever direction he felt like walking to cause Temari could be any where, "eh, I'm calling you, you better answer me."

"What?"

He turned around and there, standing with her hands on her hips was Temari and she was not crying.

"What do you want?" Temari asked, "I don't mean to intrude with you and your beloved angel."

He thought for a while, he didn't get what she meant, "so wait, you thought I liked Ino? Come on you know I have better taste than that. Ino is sleeping with Sai, how could I like her? Jumping into conclusions and crying like you were jealous or something, that's so troublesome."

"Shut up," Temari said, "I'm not jealous."

"Whatever," Shikamaru said walking towards her, "I'm getting out of here, I don't want to return to that ward cause I left Sai and Ino there alone, and the next thing I would find is a puddle of sperms swimming on the bed."

She cringed at that thought, "where are you going?"

"To a hill."

*****

"And this is supposed to be fun?" Temari asked, "we're just lying here, on a grassy hill, watching the clouds go by. Don't you have any other hobbies? This place is so secluded from civilization."

"I like sleeping," Shikamaru muttered, "do you?"

"You're not going to talk me into having sex with you, are you?" Temari asked, "the last thing a want is to be in bed with a handicapped man."

Shikamaru sat up, "so if I wasn't handicapped, you would have sex with me?"

Now it was Temari's turn to sit up, "NO. N.O. NO. I was saying that…"

"That?" Shikamaru prompted.

"That…" Temari said, "why are you even asking me this like you want to have sex with me."

"Denying it would be a complete lie," he said lying down again.

She looked at him like he had a flower growing from his head, "what? I can use my fan as a tool of eternal pain and suffering."

"I didn't know you were into sadomasochism," Shikamaru grinned, "you're kinky."

"This is not like me," Temari said flustered, "this is your fault I'm so out of character."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, "always blaming me."

Temari laid down and watched the clouds with him, "what goes through your mind as you watch these things go by, I mean, doesn't it make you feel guilty about letting your life fly by? Oh wait- you're looking for more angels, am I right?"

Shikamaru turned to face her, "I think the one I have is satisfactory."

"Who is she Shikamaru?" Temari asked, curious, "how does she look like?"

It was then that he decided to tell her.

*****

A/N: I didn't want to end it abruptly so I decided to drag my story longer… hope I didn't disappoint anyone with my crappy piece of writing. None the less, review. Thanks to those who reviewed.


	5. Guessing Games

A/N: I don't know how I should describe how rubbish I think this chapter is.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, if I did, I would have messed it up really badly. And all ShikaTema fans worldwide would be happy.

*****

It was then that he decided to tell her that he had inexplicably fallen in love with her, the angel that he has stumbled upon in the most unconventional circumstance.

"You know how they say that angels have blond hair and blue eyes?" Shikamaru asked.

She nodded, "that's only in storybooks though."

He shook his head, "no, it isn't, I've seen one with my own eyes and she is indeed, truly beautiful, inside and out."

She sat up, "please do not tell me that Ino is cheating on Sai to be with you and that you had to tell me that the Angel wasn't Ino because we were at a place surround by witnesses and you didn't want to expose you love affair."

He remained silent for a while, trying, at his best, to absorb all that she had said in her incredibly quick pace, "er… no."

She sighed, "you should have enough moral and better judgment to reframe yourself from such temptations, adultery may be a sin you commit in the future."

"Troublesome," he said, "if you keep interrupting me like that you might never realize who this Angel really is, or is it that you have lost interest?"

"Ok, ok, fine," Temari said, "who is she?"

"You're saying it like your forced to listen to my crap," Shikamaru said.

Temari rolled her eyes, "and you say that I'm troublesome, shesh, get on with it Nara."

"I'm not going to tell you since you _are_ disinterested," Shikamaru shifted to another side.

Temari stood up and gently kicked his back, "oh Shikamaru," she said in an overly sweet voice, "please tell me about this Angel. Pretty, pretty, please."

Shikamaru laughed, "now that was disgusting."

"You had your fun," bending over him face, blocking his view of the sky, "now tell me."

He reached out his hand towards her face. She stayed there, wondering what his intentions were.

"Eh," she called the man that looked as if he were drunk, "earth to Shikamaru."

"Shhh…" was all his said before stroking her face with the back of his hand, "you have a smooth face Temari."

She was creeped out. How random can this guy be?

"Are you ok?" she asked, bending lower to feel his forehead, "you're alright. Or are you mentally unstable, like there's a screw lose or something."

"Shhh…"

"Stop shhhh-ing me," Temari said agitated, "you're touching my face like I'm some animal in the petting zoo."

"You're quite far from that," he cupped her face with his hands, and steadly pulled her face towards his.

"You're freaking me out Nara," she said in a softer, less commanding voice.

"Shhh…"

"AHHHHHH!"

They jerked away from each other. Shikamaru got up and looked towards the source of the voice. It was none other than the infamous Naruto.

"What the fuck," he muttered, "hi Naruto."

Naruto's mouth was still wide with shock, his words came out similar to those of Hinata, "you… you… fetched your… your… self a HOT CHICK! DUDE! YOU'RE MY IDOL!"

Shikamaru shook his head, "you're spending way too much time with Hinata, it's starting to rub off on you."

Naruto jumped towards them, "don't change the subject. Have you been reading some of Ero- sennins make out tactics? I bet you have, or else how would you have been able to fish out a girl like… her."

Temari placed her hands on her hips irritated, "I'm not something you fetch neither can you 'fish' me out like a freaking fish."

"A hot babe is talking to me," Naruto gasped, "keep her away from Kiba, he might try to seduce her."

Temari rolled her eyes, "really, please don't exaggerate it. I'm not that beautiful, or rather, I'm not beautiful at all."

The two men look at her at the same time, "WHAT?!" They said in union.

She started laughing, "that would have been funnier if you both have this weird squeaky voice."

*****

"Two miso ramen", Shikamaru called, "troublesome, he had to drag us here and then leave."

Temari watched ramen making process so intently that she didn't hear what Shikamaru had just said.

"They don't have ramen there in Suna?" he asked, "really?"

She looked at him, "there are thing we have in Suna that you don't have too, so stop making it seem like ramen is something I should know about."

"SHIKAMARU!" Chouji burst through the doors of the ramen stand, "INO TOLD ME YOU CAME BACK!"

Shikamaru scratched his head, "can people stop popping out of no where?"

He grabbed a seat on the other side of Shikamaru and ordered a bowl of ramen for himself. He realized that Temari was there and he raised his hand intending to give Shikamaru a high five.

"What?" Shikamaru asked looking at Chouji stupidly hanging his hand in the air.

"He wants a high five," Temari said.

"What for?" he asked her.

"You ask him yourself," Temari answered.

"What for?" he repeated his question to Chouji.

"You finally got a girlfriend," Chouji gleamed, "after rejecting Ino time and time again you finally found someone you like, good for you man!"

Shikamaru smacked his forehead, "haha Chouji very funny."

Chouji ignored him, "hi," he said to Temari, "I'm Chouji, Shikamaru's best friend and his best man when the two of you get married."

Temari blushed, "what? Haha, _married_? Seriously, married?"

"Chouji," Shikamaru warned, "since when have you became so annoying?"

Their ramen finally came. Temari took her first bite at the noodles and allowed it roll in her mouth, spreading it's salivary goodness around every part.

"Umm…" she cried, "this is great, they should theses in Suna, god, I love the meat," she turned to Shikamaru, "it's so good."

"Glad you like it," he said monotonously, "you like the meat?"

She nodded.

He used his chopsticks and plopped all the meat he had to her bowl. Chouji watched in awe as his best friend passed delicious meat to someone else other than him.

Temari looked at him, and swallowed her food, "you don't like it?"

"Nah," Shikamaru said, "you can have it."

Chouji gasped loudly, "since when don't you like the meat?" he asked, shocked, "I… I… you liked it just like everyone does… you never gave me the meat when I asked for it… I… I am shocked!"

Temari plopped the meat back into Shikamaru's bowl, "don't need to be kind, you take it back."

"No, don't be troublesome and accept it," Shikamaru gave it back to her.

"But you like it," Temari said, "take it."

"No, I don't like it today," he tossed it back to her.

"You can't not like it today, you must like it everyday," Temari argued back.

"Says who?"

"Says me," she took the meat he had just handed to her and forcefully pushed it into his mouth, he fought back, "says me Sa- ba- ku No Te- ma- ri."

"This is deadly meat!" he yelped as she successfully shoved it into his mouth, "troublesome."

"Victory to me," Temari gleamed.

"Maybe the two of you should not get married," Chouji commented, recovering from the trauma, "you might just end up killing each other."

"Well she might just kill you if you continue talking about your wedding plans for us," Shikamaru said.

"I think I would go now," Chouji said finishing the last few bits of his ramen before dashing off.

They ate there in silence.

"Are you mad at me?" Temari asked not looking away from her bowl.

"Maybe," Shikamaru said, "but that was really childish."

"Well you gave me the meat when you clearly liked it," Temari shot back, "what was that all about?"

"I was being nice," Shikamaru said.

"Nice?" She scoffed, "to me? Hah, since when were you nice to me?"

He held up the thin slice of meat between his chopsticks in front of her, "last call for my kindness, five… four… three… two…o-"

She ate it.

He looked at her, "and you still insist I have it back. Here."

He held up another one for her.

"I still have some left in my bowl," Temari said.

"My kindness has it's time span," Shikamaru said, "five… four… thr-"

She ate from his chopsticks, "it must be tiring to be kind."

"Only to you," Shikamaru muttered, "you might as well take my whole bowl."

She refused and they continued eating what ever that was left in their bowl.

*****

They were aimlessly walking around the town. Temari wasn't the type that would easily get hyped at the sight of clothing and jewelry, hence they didn't stop by any shop to purchase anything or even look around.

"Hey Shikamaru," Temari called, "what were you going to do to me at the hill just now?"

Shikamaru shifted his eyes to look at her, "I don't remember my intentions then."

She rolled her eyes, "whatever, can you just take me to her?"

"Who?"

"That Angel, don't think I have forgotten."

"What exactly do you want to know about her?"

She started thinking, "how she looks like I guess."

He sighed, "I told you blond hair, blue eyes."

"I know, I know, be specific."

"I'm afraid that I might get too specific that you would know who she is," Shikamaru said.

"Isn't that the whole point?" Temari asked.

He sighed again, "you'll know who she is when the time comes, right now all you need to do is prepare for a huge shock."

"When people say that," Temari said, "normally, 'the time' never comes and you'll leave me really curious for the rest of my life and I'm not good with curiosity."

He stopped, "look at it this way, would you feel comfortable telling me who this guy that you're so deeply in love with is?"

"So you feel uncomfortable telling me?" Temari asked, "me of all people. Can I ask why?"

"Because…" he struggled to think of an explanation, "you know her."

Temari paused to think, "I'm afraid that this might be like those movies where the answer is just flashing in front of the main character's face but she goes about totally oblivious to it."

"That's probably not the chase," Shikamaru said, "cause this time the supporting actor is trying very hard to keep it less obvious."

"At the end of the day, when you tell me who this girl is," Temari said, "I hope she isn't someone who would make me so damn embarrassed that I had never guessed it was her. You know? That kind of feeling."

Shikamaru nodded, "who would make you embarrassed?"

"Sakura… Ino, even though you keep denying… Sai, you might just be gay, I never know, Naruto… Chouji…." she paused and looked at him, "well there is someone that would make me impossibly embarrassed."

"Who is that?"

She hesitated.

"Me."

His heart stopped beating for one second. He thought that she had figured it out.

"But… it's highly impossible," Temari said, "considering the fact that you hate me to wits."

He covered up his shock by nodded his head rapidly, "if that's the case, you just might be embarrassed."

"Seriosuly?" Temari said, "I totally guess her? Or him?"

He nodded.

"I feel really really dumb not knowing," she said.

"Yeah, you seem stupid going on and on thinking about who SHE is when it is actually…"

"Acutally?" she probed, "come on finish the damn sentence!"

"You finish it," he smiled at her as the continued to walk along the street.

"You are so trou- annoying," Temari cried, "god, curiosity is taking over me!"

Shikamaru laughed.

*****

"Shikamaru!" a brunette called out to him in a distance.

As she got closer, Temari realized it wasn't only just she, but rather a she and a he. There was this guy with pale eyes and long black hair next to her.

"Hey Shikamaru," the guy said, "Tsunade sama wants me to tell you that the war is currently put to a stand still until the Kazekage come over and discusses the issue, so at the moment, you are put in charge of her, well since you are the only one who knows her well."

"You're very pretty," the girl said, "I'm Tenten."

"Thanks," Temari smiled, "Temari."

"Naruto told us that he saw the two of you making out on Shikamaru's infamous hill," Tenten said, "I didn't know you two were going out."

"No their not," Neji told her.

"Thank you," Shikamaru said, "you're the only sensible one around here!"

He laughed, "not yet they aren't."

"Don't you have something to say about this Temari?" Shikamaru asked, "you just keep quiet when people tease us about such things."

"It's not like anything I'm going to say might change their minds," Temari argued at her own defense, "violently denying it would make people think that you're hiding something."

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru said, "they are troublesome, look what has Tenten turned Neji into, a guy that has submitted to girls."

Neji raised an eyebrow, "wrong, I've only submitted to one girl, haha Shikamaru you're growing dumber by the day. You seem physically and mentally weaker when she came, does she have an effect on you?"

Temari slapped her forehead, "not again."

Neji pulled Shikamaru aside, leaving the two girls out of earshot.

"Do you feel different when you're around er… Temari?" Neji asked quietly, "like something has started up in you and it's eating your soul burning you up inside? Do you feel like you're missing out on something you crave to have? Like say… I don't know… SEX?"

"What the hell Neji!" Shikamaru almost screamed, "what are you trying to ask? If I want to have sex with her? Are you still a virgin?"

"I am a virgin."

Shikamaru sighed.

"Of course I'm not a virgin you dooshbag! I'm eighteen freaking years old! Naruto had sex with my cousin, Sai obviously slept with Ino countless times, Sakura and Sasuke are both getting it on, in other words, you are probably the only virgin from our badge of Shinobis!"

Shikamaru could just faint.

"She might not even be a virgin herself," Neji looked towards Temari.

"No way," Shikamaru said, "she must be a virgin, she can't can't be a virgin, she… she…"

"You don't know do you?" Neji smirked, "ask her and if she is a virgin," he did an evil laugh, "you know what to do."

"Wait," Shikamaru asked, "why can't she not have sex before?"

"Because you obviously like her dude!" Neji said, "don't tell me you want to have that with a girl you like but she has totally fucked herself senseless with someone else before."

He remained silent, the image of Temari sleeping with some other guy kind of damaged him, he really, really hoped that she was a virgin.

"Stop hanging out with Tenten will you?" Shikamaru said, "you're growing more and more like her."

"There's this high chance that I might spend my whole damn fucking life with her," Neji said and lowered his voice, "I want to marry her."

"Now that you're officially insane, I'm not surprised."

"You'd be a bastard if you told her that."

"You'd be another bastard if you told Temari that I want to sleep with her."

"An eye for an eye eh?" Neji nodded, "deal."

*****

Neji and Tenten left in a hurry seeing that I was soon to be evening. I wonder what their up to.

"Hey Temari," Shikamaru called her, "can I ask you something?"

She looked at him, waiting for his question.

He thought for a while, "er… er… you see… hmmm…"

"Spit it out."

"It's personal, are you sure about it?" he asked.

She nodded, "it depends on the question, you might find it personal, I might not. So what is it?"

"Are you a virgin?"

She stopped walking.

"What?"

"I told you it's personal."

"Repeat the question."

"Are you a virgin?"

She paused for a while, "why are you asking?"

"I was just wondering," Shikamaru added casually.

She continued walking, "I am."

"Seriously?" Shikamaru sighed in relief, "haha, cool."

"You seem overly happy that I'm a virgin," Temari said, "is it because you're happy that you have someone you know that is a virgin? Like you?"

"Who said I was a virgin?"

"You get an erection for the most minor things," she said.

His footsteps quicken and he walked ahead of her, "whoa, the sky sure is nice."

A pair of feminine arms slid around his shoulders from behind. He felt her body pressed against his and her breath bouncing off his neck. He stopped and froze in that position.

"Are you sure you're not a virgin?" Temari's hissed into his ear, "cause you seem pretty virgin to me."

He knew his little brother was excited, too excited. Damn that Neji.

The hands retracted and came round his waist, up his stomach, cross his ribs and up his chest.

"Your heart is beating faster than usual," Temari said playfully into his ear.

His breath stopped.

He felt her head against his shoulder.

She closed her eyes along them to stand there like this for a few seconds before deciding that she had her fun traumatizing him.

"And you say you're not a virgin," Temari retracted her arms and started walking before him.

Before she could move too far away, he grabbed on to her hand and held on to it.

"We're both virgins Temari," he said.

She turned to face him.

In a flash, he pulled her towards him and held her in his arms, not letting go.

She was too deep in shock to even blink her eyes.

"Shikamaru," Temari murmured, "are you ok?"

She felt him nodding.

"Sometimes it might be good to have a fellow virgin comfort another virgin about the difficulties of being a virgin," Temari said.

"No, I have an angel to do that for me," Shikamaru whispered, "I'm just glad she's in my arms."

*****

A/N: That is NOT the end. I hope not.

Anyways, Review!


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